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Monday, October 17, 2011

The Sound of Mankind

...but I'm not the only one

Imagine John Lennon

I was on noob duty last night, which turned out to be way more fun than I expected for three reasons. Firstly, after a couple of hours on Viewer 3, the noob decided to try Imprudence: seconds later there was unprompted yelling: 'Why didn't I get this viewer from the start! It's so much better!'. I love to have my prejudices spontaneously confirmed. Secondly lots of lovely online shopping, mostly through Fab Free - witty, useful and cute, and no whiff of self promotion anywhere, it's still the Best Ever SL blog.

The third great thing was to go to hear Mankind Tracer. 'MK' was headlining at his and Kalli Birman's club The Village. The always gorgeous Kalli, sporting a fabulous Halloween gown, was accompanied by close personal friend Bob, who took a break from occupying Wall Street to be at the concert. Bob's on the thin side, but his grip looks pretty strong.

It's hard to believe anyone in Second Life hasn't heard of MK, aka Seth Regan. A pioneer of the multi-region concert (his current record is 50 sims, simultaneously), he's won a bunch of awards and been involved in big festivals like Burning Life and the SLBirthday bashes for years, and a stalwart at charity concerts all over the grid. He co-owns the Village with Kalli and they have created a really great, welcoming atmosphere. Love it.

Yesterday night, there were 40 avies on the sim to hear him sing both his excellent original stuff (he has 3 albums, the latest one is 'Beyond the Shade') and great covers of Space Oddity, Over the Rainbow, Imagine... you get the picture.

The noob quickly got the hang of hitting on random single guys in the crowd, leaving me time to chat with New Toulouse's favourite shotgun house builder Pazzo Pestana, sporting a fab new look of his own. I tipped MK, but if he thanked me, I didn't hear it. Nuuuu just kidding, I'm sure I just missed his 'hello in the mix. And I did hear him give Pazzo a shout-out. But tell me, what's your feeling about that whole 'suggested amount' on a tipping jar? While it's patently insulting if someone tips you a single Linden, is it fair to assume that L250 is the least a person should be willing and able to give? Never mind all that, he has a great voice and a brilliant songbook, and we're really lucky to be able to 'go out' to a concert of this caliber without leaving home.

Here's the thing. If it hadn't been for the noob-watching, I wouldn't have gone to the concert; the notice would have been batted down without a flicker. The reason's simple: Kalli - you may know her as Brandy Maltas in the liminal world of Facebook - is such a thorough publicist that there's probably not an avatar in the metaverse who's not been hit by one of her notices, or friended by her on FB. While so many people are crassly publicizing themselves, she's promoting another person's considerable talent, and you have to admire all her hard work. Yet - how can you measure the tipping point between news and spam?

Choice paralysis, spam blindness, earnest people in tents stating the obvious like 'banker are crooks' ... sigh, it's a tough world we live in. Lemme put on some Mankind Tracer and get some Peace and Harmony back in my life.